The present embodiments relate to determining an altitude of an air traveling object in response to positional data and image data, where typically such data are determined by apparatus aboard the object.
In various applications including military applications, there is a need to estimate the altitude of an air traveling object, such as a vehicle, reconnaissance device, or weapon. Certain of such objects include a guidance system that includes apparatus for estimating attitude and position information, from which the system or a corresponding system, estimates altitude. One particular approach is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/540,263, filed Sep. 29, 2006, entitled, “System and method for determining range in response to image data,” co-assigned to the same entity as is the present application, and incorporated herein by reference. In this incorporated application, a system is described that estimates range from an air traveling object to an object on the ground, and the system also may correspondingly estimate altitude of that air traveling object; in either case, the estimate (range or altitude) is determined in response to image data representing a separate object external from the air traveling object, where often the separate object is fixed relative to the ground. In any event, altitude estimates may be used for various applications, and certain of these applications are improved based on the accuracy of the altitude estimate. Therefore, while altitude estimates in the past have proven effective, typically an improvement in such estimates will necessarily improve any application based on the estimate. The present preferred embodiments, therefore, are directed to such improvements.